The visor of a helmet may be a tinted visor (i.e., a shaded visor), having lower light transmission than a clear visor. Such tinted visor reduces the brightness of the ambient light arriving at the users eye, in order to provide the user with a better view in bright conditions. The degree of transmission or alternatively the transmission of certain wavelengths may vary from visor to visor. Furthermore, the transmission of the visor may be adjustable and controllable, automatically or manually. Additionally, the visor can include several areas, each having a respective light transmission. Moreover, one or more areas of the visor can have adjustable and controllable light transmission.
U.S. Pat. No. 8487,233B2 issued to Baudou et al., entitled “Vision Equipment Comprising an Optical Strip with a Controlled Coefficient of Light Transmission” is directed to a vision system having a controlled light transmission optical strip. This publication describes a vision equipment system of a helmet of a pilot including a visor (40), an image projection device (45) and a plurality of UV LEDs (41, 42, 43 and 44). Visor 40 includes several portions of adjustable light transmission (46, 47 and 48). The adjustable light transmission portions are activated by the UV LEDs according to measured luminosity levels. The image projection device of this publication projects the image onto the inner side of the visor such that the projected image does not pass via the visor, but is reflected therefrom toward the eye of the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,711 issued to Lefort et al. entitled “Head-mounted visor with variable transmission”, is directed to a head-mounted visor having at least two zones with different values of absorption of light. The visor includes two functionally different zones. One zone has a higher absorption, and corresponds to the wearer's visual field of the outside scene. Another has a lower absorption, and corresponds to the view of the dashboard instruments.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,893,890 issued to Kelly et al. and entitled “Electrically dimmable combiner optics for head-up display”, is directed to a system for providing head-up displays with variable light transmission. The system includes a combiner and a projector, wherein the projector projects an image onto the combiner. Alternatively, the combiner may have an internally integrated display module. The system also includes a light sensor, which detects the light intensity outside the cockpit portion. The light sensor transfers this information to an operatively coupled combiner control device coupled with the combiner. The control device adjusts the transmission of the combiner after receiving information relating to ambient the light intensity. Further alternatively, the operator may manually control the transmission of the combiner.
The combiner may include one or more segments to provide varying levels of transmission of light. For example, the combiner may be divided vertically, horizontally, or both, to create segments of the combiner. Additionally, the combiner may be wearable, for example in the form of a visor attached to a helmet.